# The Straight "DOPE" **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 8, 2011, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope/595630 "2011-09-08T17:59:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope/595630/1 "2011-09-08T17:59:25Z")
I usually have the ‘Dope’ up in a browser on my 2nd monitor as I work. But, people who don’t know what the Straight Dope is, have either commented “You smoke weed, huh?” (when I had a corporate gig), give me strange looks, or I’m just reticent about having the top site banner conspicuously displayed (say when my very conservative MIL walks in the room). Also, when people may hear I’m going to a ‘Dopefest’, I feel obligated to explain, because if they don’t ask, I know what I’d be thinking if I didn’t know otherwise. Anyone else experience these unfortunate awkward situations because of the site name? ---
**Author:** ![awldune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope/595630/2 "2011-09-08T18:21:58Z")
I’ve never known anyone into pot who called it “dope.” It is more popular as slang for Heroin, c.f., “shooting dope”. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope/595630/3 "2011-09-08T18:25:07Z")
Try walking up to a random stranger in a bar or restaurant and asking if they’re a Doper. “Friend of Cecil” works a lot better. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope/595630/4 "2011-09-08T18:59:52Z")
I have gotten some strange questions by my friends when they see it on my computer, but luckily no one at work has caught me yet. Even though the website is innocuous enough (mostly), I am nervous and feel kind of like a bad little boy for having “the straight dope” open on my desktop! ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope/595630/5 "2011-09-08T19:11:09Z")
Yeah, me too. I wish this place was called something different. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope/595630/6 "2011-09-08T19:12:24Z")
> [@awldune](#): > > I’ve never known anyone into pot who called it “dope.” It is more popular as slang for Heroin, c.f., “shooting dope”. I’ve heard it refer to Heroin too, but you’ve never heard of ‘smokin dope’ in context to MJ? I like how Urban Dictionary puts it: > [@Urban Dictionary](#): > > People who do not do drugs call Marajuanna Dope. > People who do Marajuanna call Heroin Dope. > Word has also been used to describe how good somthing is. > > \*Don’t you be somkin’ dope! ( AKA Marajuanna ) > > OMG, I smoke the green but I don’t do dope ( AKA Heroin ) > > Man that car is dope!\* ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope/595630/7 "2011-09-08T19:13:33Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > Yeah, me too. I wish this place was called something different. [It was taken.](http://somethingdifferent.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope/595630/8 "2011-09-08T19:14:53Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > I’ve heard it refer to Heroin too, but you’ve never heard of ‘smokin dope’ in context to MJ? > > I like how Urban Dictionary puts it: I was going to denigrate your source because of the spelling, but anybody who spells marijuana like that has probably done a lot of dope. Define dope however you like. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope/595630/9 "2011-09-08T19:16:03Z")
The lobbying for The Straight Poop has fallen on deaf ears. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope/595630/10 "2011-09-08T19:24:15Z")
The funny thing is I like the name, and wouldn’t want it changed. It’s just one of those things, y’know? I already look like a huge pot-head, so it doesn’t help my image. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![gregorio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@gregorio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gregorio)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope/595630/11 "2011-09-08T19:46:56Z")
Just throw in a 23 skidoo here and there and they’ll back away from you and your dope dope. ---
**Author:** ![HawksPath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f07891/32.png) [@HawksPath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HawksPath)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope/595630/12 "2011-09-08T20:33:50Z")
Straight Medicine just doesn’t have the same ring to it. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope/595630/13 "2011-09-08T21:23:55Z")
I don’t dare visit the SDMB at work because of that. I work for Tennessee State Government. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope/595630/14 "2011-09-08T21:28:01Z")
Be thankful that at least it’s the Straight Dope and not the Gay Dope. That would really raise some conservative eyebrows. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope/595630/15 "2011-09-08T23:54:21Z")
It’d also give my wife pause if I told here we were hosting a GayFest. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope/595630/16 "2011-09-08T23:58:23Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > The funny thing is I like the name, and wouldn’t want it changed. > > It’s just one of those things, y’know? I already look like a huge pot-head, so it doesn’t help my image. 😉 Pfft. Maybe you look like you’ve got a pot on your head. Calphalon, perhaps. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope/595630/17 "2011-09-09T00:19:33Z")
“Dope” was a widely popular term for cannabis in the 1970s. According to at least one serious book on the subject from that time, “dope” was more common among middle and upper class, mostly Anglo college students–no less by those who partook than by those who abstained. African Americans, so the book said, preferred “herb”, reserving “dope” for harder drugs, particularly heroin and cocaine. Having been an undergraduate in the late 1970s, I can attest to a modicum of truth in this. ETA: I don’t recall what term the book said was preferred in the Latino or Asian communities, if it did so at all. ---
**Author:** ![Buttercup\_Smith](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buttercup_smith/32/473_2.png) [@Buttercup\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buttercup_Smith)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope/595630/18 "2011-09-09T00:33:31Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > I don’t dare visit the SDMB at work because of that. > > I work for Tennessee State Government. I work for the Federal Government and I do visit the SDMB on my lunch break. I know my computer is monitored but anyone doing the monitoring should confirm the content not just the name of the site. At least one can hope. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope/595630/19 "2011-09-09T00:48:33Z")
I’ve had people give me curious looks several times when walking by my computer. It’s in a place that no one sees it unless they specifically getting something from my desk (or I’m showing them something), but even so, I usually open another tab before minimizing the browser. If they do see it and ask, I hit the new posts button to show them the wide array of topics we discuss and hope it’s not full of threads suck as “Dogs, Sex, and Morality” or "“So, uh, how do I deepthroat without gagging?”. Also, just recently I was at my mom’s house and doing something on the computer when she walked by and asked me when I developed an interest in giraffes. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope/595630/20 "2011-09-09T01:10:38Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > Pfft. Maybe you look like you’ve got a pot on your head. Calphalon, perhaps. 😛 Just Reynolds Wrap. 😉 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope/595630.md?page=2)